Trump Donates $100,000 to the Department of Transportation. How Much Infrastructure Will That Buy?

The following excerpt is from an article that originally appeared on Hit and Run Reason

President Donald Trump, gold-hearted philanthropist that he is, has donated his $100,000 fourth quarter salary to the Department of Transportation.

This is not the first time Trump has signed away his salary to a government agency, having previously given his quarterly earnings to the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Park Service, and the Education Department to promote different signature initiatives.

In this case, the gift was made to hype his just-released $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan. But while the check was obviously a PR stunt, the president might still be interested to learn just how much infrastructure it will actually buy.

According to a new report from the Reason Foundation (the nonprofit that publishes this website), an average mile of new highway costs the taxpayer $91,992—just under Trump’s $100,000 gift. But this average obscures huge variations in the capital costs of new roads.